


One-Way Ticket to Boston

by the_technicolor_whiscash



Category: Cheers (TV), Wings (TV)
Genre: F/M, actually cheers and wings are canonically in the same universe so, crossover fic, in case anybody wanted to know, its also the same universe as Frasier, theres crossover episodes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-14
Updated: 2017-08-14
Packaged: 2018-12-15 05:10:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11799078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_technicolor_whiscash/pseuds/the_technicolor_whiscash
Summary: Helen is done with Nantucket. She's moved to Boston, and is going to make a life for herself there instead. But will something- or someone- drag her back?





	One-Way Ticket to Boston

**Author's Note:**

> All I watch nowadays is comedy shows from the 80's and 90's please help me

Helen sat down at a stool nearest to the door and sighed. Nothing in the last few days had gone right. First an argument with Joe, then her house catches fire, then another argument with Joe. She just couldn’t handle living cooped up on that island anymore. She had to get away. And so she took Aeromass flight 20 to Boston, in order to pull her life back together. 

“What’ll it be?” The old man behind the bar asked. 

“Something strong. Something to take my mind off of things.” She replied, running her fingers through her hair. “Vodka or something.”

“Is it gonna be vodka or is it gonna be something?” 

Helen frowned. Was this man for real? “Vodka. Please.” 

“You've got it. What are you trying to take your mind off of, if you don't mind me asking?” 

“I had an argument with my boy-... well, my friend. And so many other things have happened lately, that I just need to get away from it all.” 

The old man placed a shot of vodka on the bar in front of her. “Well, if you ever want to talk to someone, I’m sure there's plenty of people here who would like to listen. I’m Ernie, by the way, though most people call me Coach.” 

Helen nodded and took the vodka. “Nice to meet you, Coach. I'm Helen.” 

Coach walked off to help another customer, and Helen downed her shot of vodka. It burned going down, and she sighed. Where was she going from here? She was set up in a hotel, but she would need to find an apartment if she was seriously moving to Boston. Plus, she would need a job. But where would a disgraced cellist whose only skills were in food service find a job? 

“Excuse me.” A woman’s voice said from behind her. “Are you alright?” 

Helen turned and faced the woman, who appeared to be a waitress. “Yes, I'm fine. Just getting over a lot of disappointment, that’s all.” 

“Oh, now that is too bad. What happened?” 

Helen ran her thumb over the empty shot glass. “There’s this guy who I like, but we had a sort of falling out, and then just to add insult to injury my stove decided to light most of my house on fire. So I decided to just pack up my things and move to Boston.” 

“My goodness, that’s terrible! Is there anything I can do for you? Get you a hotel?” 

“No, thank you.” Then, a thought occurred to her. “Wait, do you know anywhere I could get a job? With my move being so abrupt, I don't have anything set up here yet. It doesn't have to be anything flashy, just something to get me through the next few months.”

“Why, I’m sure I could get you a job here at the bar. Though I can understand if you don't want to.”

Helen’s eyes widened. “That would be perfect. If it’s not too much trouble. Name’s Helen, by the way.”

“Helen, I’m Diane. Now, you see, the owner of the bar and I have a… special relationship, if you get what I'm saying, so I don't doubt I can get you an interview. Though you'd have to get used to Carla, which I still haven't.” 

“I’m willing to do anything at this point.” 

“Alright. Sam’s in his office, I’ll run and grab him. You stay right here, ok?” 

Diane dashed off, and Helen sat bewildered. In the last day, her life had been completely messed up, and then she just happens to stumble into a bar, meet a waitress who just happens to be banging the owner, and get set up for a job. Nothing made sense anymore. 

After what seemed like longer than necessary, Diane returned, a tall and oddly handsome man, who she figured was the owner of the bar. 

“Sam, this is Helen.” Diane said, motioning to Helen. “She’s hit a rough patch lately, and needs a job.” 

“I'll take any job you can give me. Scrubbing toilets, washing glasses, anything.” Helen hoped it wouldn't have to come to that. 

Sam raised an eyebrow. “Have you had any experience working in bars?”

“No, but I worked the lunch counter at an airport on Nantucket up until yesterday.” 

“Airport? Wait, you wouldn't happen to know a pilot by the name of Brian Hackett, would you?”

Helen nodded. “Yea, Brian’s a good friend of mine. Do you know him?”

“We were pretty good friends a few years ago. Now he just owes me money.” 

“I wish I could say that was surprising. He owes money to a lot of people.”

“Definitely sounds like the Brian I knew. Anyway, I can give you a position as a waitress, though I don't know how much I’ll be able to pay you. Business has been tight lately.”

“That’s fine. I'll take whatever you can give me.”

“Well then Helen, you’ve got the job.” Sam held his hand out, and Helen shook it. 

Things were looking up for her already. 

\---------------

ONE WEEK LATER

A week later, Helen was flourishing at her waitressing job. She was making more off of tips than she would make in a week at her job at the lunch counter. She did miss Nantucket, but not enough to make her go back. Even if Carla did nag her to. 

Carla and Helen had an odd work relationship. Sometimes Carla would seem nice to her, and other times her biting sarcasm would almost be too much to handle. Nonetheless, they got on pretty well, better than Diane and Carla did. Carla was ruthless to Diane. It was actually pretty funny, but Helen would never tell Diane that.

As Helen was serving a table, she noticed the door opening out of the corner of her eye. She would have to take care of whoever just came in, since Carla was sick and it was Diane’s day off. The only people working were her and Coach, and it wasn't nearly enough, but Sam was nowhere to be found.

She turned around and came face to face with Joe. 

“Joe! What the hell are you doing here?” She exclaimed, nearly hitting him with her tray. 

“Helen, I’m here to ask you to come back to Nantucket. I was an asshole, and… I’m sorry.” 

“What, can't live without me? I’m not coming back, Joe. I have it really good here. I just got this job, and I'm making more here than I ever did at that dingy hole in the wall I called a lunch counter.” 

Helen began to walk off, but Joe grabbed her elbow. “Helen, wait. Just listen to me.”

She sighed. He clearly wasn't going away. “Fine. My shift ends at one. I can talk to you then. Right now, I have customers to serve. You want anything? Bloody Mary? Martini? A punch to the face?” 

“I regret anything I said that might have upset you. I really do. But I can't stand being at the airport and not seeing you. It feels like all of the joy has just been sapped out of my life.”

Helen took a deep breath, trying to calm her beating heart. “I’m sorry, Joe. I've got to serve these customers.” 

She walked off, coming to the sudden realization that she was fighting back tears. She loved Joe. She really did. But it never seemed to work between them. They were just two completely different people. 

Then again, Sam and Diane made it work, and they argued constantly. 

\----------------

ONE AM

The rest of the day had dragged on, until it was finally the end of Helen’s shift. She had agreed to lock up, so she and Joe had the entire place to themselves for whatever was about to happen. The minute Coach left, Helen confronted Joe. 

“Why should I go back? I’m starting to make a life for myself here. Who knows, in a few months I might have enough money to even buy that little airplane of yours.”

“Helen, all of your friends are back on Nantucket. And I know that all of those tips are going into an apartment you can barely afford.” He took a step closer to her, until there was perilously little distance between them. “I don't want this to be like what happened to you in New York.” 

“No. I'm never going through something like that again. If it came to that, I would go back home. But this is different. I have a solid job, and I've managed my money.”

“It's been a week. How do you know things aren't going to change?”

“I don't. I just have to trust that this is going to work out. If it doesn't, I’ll figure something out.” 

They were so close that she could feel his breath on her nose. But she refused to move closer, to close the gap. She wasn't going to give up her resolve that easily. 

“Helen… I miss you. I miss you so much, I can't sleep at night.” 

She could feel her resolve beginning to crack. 

“I miss you too, Joe. But it just… it never worked between us. We kept trying, but it just never worked.” 

“We could try harder.” 

Helen sighed. “Joe, you know that's not how it works. A relationship takes communication. It takes both sides trying their best to understand the other. You might argue, but you always make up in the end. And I don't know if we can do that.” 

“What are you saying?” 

“I’m saying, two people who are in a relationship have to understand each other's point of view. And that's why our arguments always seem to end up in us breaking up.” 

“I don't want for us to fight. You know that.” He cupped her face in his hand, and gently stroked her cheekbones with his thumb. “I want to be with you, Helen. I can't stand being without you.”

“God, Joe.” She wrapped her arms around him and pressed her face into his chest. The smell of his cologne was weird, but it was somehow so… him. “I love you.”

She could feel him press a kiss to her head. “I love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah this is the first I've written in a while so if it's not the best it's because I'm out of practice


End file.
